richmond-san rafael bridge as drivers making their way across in the dark about 4:30 this morning. the rain of course has been very steady throughout the bay area. this is our own parking lot drenched in water last night around 1:00 this morning. this morning we have the entire bay area covered as we're getting slammed by a series of storms. we'll check in with christina loren and mike inouye in just moments but let's check in with christie smith. she is at the richmond-san rafael bridge. pretty dramatic the footage we've see. >> reporter: we've been in marin since about 4:00 this morning and the words of the day is cats and dogs. it has not stopped at all, the rain still pounding this morning. we were at the richmond-san rafael bridge where the lights were out at least an hour. some of them back now but when we were at the highest parts of the bridge, the wind pushed and pulled our news van as we tried to cross. it was treacherous driving out

there this morning. i think you mentioned this, but i just got off the phone with the chp and they're telling me the bay bridge lights being affected as well. we also checked in at downtown san anselmo this morning where the rain was pounding there too and the shop owners have sandbags stacked up about two feet high in their doorways. they have the flood gates up to keep the rainwater out. they have been through this before. behind the stores, that's when the folks are keeping their eye on because there is a creek. it is swollen and moving fast. you can hear it rushing by. still well below flood stage but that is what everyone is keeping their eye on this morning. ah you head out, of course they always say give yourself extra time but it's definitely true this morning, it has not let up at all. we'll check in with you a little later. >> all right, thank you very much, christie. >> as christie just showed us, a lot of people stacking up sandbags trying to guard against flooding and all the rain. we have a list for a few places you can go to get your hands on some of those free sandbags.

in petaluma, sandbags can be hikd up on hopper street near shamrock materials. in berkeley at the city corporation yard at alston way and most city fire stations. further south, menlo park police will hand out sandbags at alma street and burgess drive and pope and laurel avenues. for a complete list visit our website and punch in the search word sandbag. for an in-depth look at the forecast that seems to be getting worse, let's check in with meteorologist christina loren. >> yeah, we have so many areas of heavy rainfall, it's hard to stay two steps ahead of this storm. this is the upper deck of the bay bridge. you can see here normally we have those lights. power knocked out in this area. we also have upwards of 18,000 power outages and it's going to get worse before it gets better. more rain and wind on the way. let's take it right to your radar and show you what we're tracking for you. in sacramento if you're headed

to the central valley you will not be escaping this system. very heavy pockets of rain. we could see very strong thunderstorms here. we're also tracking a very strong batch just to the north of brentwood. san jose getting moderate to heavy rainfall from time to time and this just passed through fremont. watch out for really slick driving conditions. we'll see more of this the next few hours and then we'll tart to see a little bit of a lull starting about noon over the greater bay area. keep that in mind. we are getting through the worst part right now. winds are rather strong, 14 miles per hour sustained in concord. we're at 21 miles per hour at napa. a little lighter at the coast but offshore our buoys are getting some really strong gifts. upwards of 40 to 50 miles per hour from time to time and that's enough to knock your high-profile vehicle around. 7:00 a.m. looks like we'll see the most severe portion of this storm, the brunt comes through between 7:00 and 9:00. then we'll start to lighten up a

little bit. travel cautiously. if you're getting the little ones ready for school, make sure they have the rain gear ready to go because it's going to be sloppy all day long. we have more heavy rainfall over the weekend. we'll track the next system in my next report. we want to find out how those roads are faring with our own mike inouye. >> good morning. the roads very wet. obviously slippery conditions. first of all, lower your speeds because it's tough tore stop and you want to allow a more gradual stop so you don't lose traction and spin out. the bay bridge shows you that water kicking up but look at the backup forming. those cash lanes coming off of 580, that's to the right of the fastrak lanes. a lighter friday commute, thank goodness for that. look at 580 over here toward the dublin interchange. this is where we had the lanes all closed. they just reopened. i talked to officer evans as they were picking up the cones. that is an issue for west 580. all that red coming from the left of your screen to the dublin interchange. those lanes starting to recover

but look at all the recovery that has to happen, all the way back through livermore. and morning coming in out of the altamont pass. the blue is where there's ponding and puddling for the roadways, a high potential for spinouts. also through sunol and pleasanton at the bottom of your screen, now showing more slowing as they go from green to yellow. a live look outside, we'll show you san mateo. that bridge across the water is moving smoothly, but 92 at skyline, reports the eastbound lanes currently have a tree down and it is still in lanes, so a crew is heading out there. that's an issue heading to or from half moon bay to 280. another live look outside, we'll show you palo alto, where northbound 101 we can make out those headlights coming toward us. all the mist and the glow in the lights. flooding reported for on and off-ramps through san mateo, redwood city and also near the airport. southbound with those headlights coming down, they just came onto the scene. that may mean they had a traffic break north of here where there

was an accident right around marsh. also the south bay we're focusing here north 101 at the top of your screen, the orange very slow from 680 up to the airport. in the middle of your screen in that blue ponding and puddling. that accident at taylor starting to move a little better but they're still doing paperwork so it's slow from downtown up to the scene and slow on northbound 87 up through the area. there are are the accidents through palo alto and also watch 280 and 92 heading to the coast. back to you. >> all right, mike, great comprehensive updates there. we're also taking a live look outside at 101 in palo alto this morning. we want to check this one especially ahead of tonight's big pac-12 showdown, ucla squaring off against stanford for the title. marla tellez is live at university avenue in palo alto. she'll have a live report in just a matter of minutes. right now we can tell you nearly 16,000 pg&e customers without power. the bay bridge is already out. the most happening in the north bay. 7400 customers in the dark in the south bay, good 2500 people

without power and up along that peninsula, 4600 right now without power. 6:07. breaking news in the south bay this morning where a police perimeter is set up in the upscale neighborhood of monte sereno. bob redell with the very latest. bob, we just received new information this morning. >> reporter: yes, this is not only a home invasion investigation, good morning to you, laura, it's also a homicide investigation. here is what we know. this took place in a very large house. we believe it's a mansion up the road. we're being kept several hundred yards away from the crime scene. a police car has us blocked off. this happened a little bit around 1:30, 1:40 this morning. police received a 911 call from a woman inside the home saying that her house had been ransacked. when police arrived, they found that her husband was dead, had been killed. that's the information we have right now. he was taken to the hospital

with nonlife threatening injuries. so a home invasion robbery took place overnight. unfortunately her husband was killed. we don't know how that happened, whether during a struggle or dealing with the person that broke into the home. bob redell, "today in the bay." >> no answers right now at this hour, just heart break as oakland police search for the person who pulled the trigger shooting and killing two teenage girls. teddy bears and candles mark the spot where the girls were killed near brookdale park. a 15-year-old and 16-year-old were best friends, and police are now still trying to figure out exactly why they were targeted. neighbors, they say they heard gunshots early sunday morning. they ran to their aid, but unfortunately the girls died at that scene. they say the killings right now over the top, even no oakland. >> it's not safe for nobody,

nobody. when it comes to females getting killed, that's when you know people aingt got a heart out here. that's when you know there is no justice, there is no peace. >> so sad, two best friends killed there. at this time police say they have no suspects. 6:09. coming up, a safety net for the big dropoff. lawmakers are are they any closer to keeping the country from falling off the fiscal cliff? we'll explain just ahead. also sky high. we'll tell you about the new plan to have downtown san jose standing tall, only on nbc bay area. >> it is a wet friday out there. h2o friday is what we're calling it. taking a live look at palo al toechlt ra to. a lot of power outages to report. 16,000. it could affect you at any time. stay with us for the very latest. 6:10 right now.

welcome back now. starting with a live look at a very wet san rafael this morning. you can see slow drives through san rafael, even though the traffic isn't heavy. you'll have to travel very cautiously as visibility is reduced by heavy downpours. let's show you the radar this morning lit up like a christmas tree as the brunt of the storm is pushing onshore as we speak. we'll track the heavier cells as they develop. 6:12. back to you for now. we'll continue our weather coverage as we check in with marla tellez. she is live at university avenue out there. a lot of rain coming down near highway 101 in palo alto. how's it looking? >> reporter: we're getting soaked out here, jon. i want to trade positions with you right about now. it's cold and wet and windy. you know what, the wind just started to pick up just in the last few minutes. yes, as christina just mentioned, the bulk of the rain is expected to hit the peninsula specifically between now and 9:00 this morning, so get ready

for it. we are at university avenue, as jon mentioned. we'll give you a look at the morning commute. traveling northbound, those are the headlights you're looking at, northbound 101, they are glowing this morning. i just hung up the phone with a chp officer and he tells me the good news is no issues so far on the peninsula. but when you do head out, keep in mind that the water tends to accumulate in the outside lanes, so it's best to stay in the inside lanes because puddling and hydroplaning are very real possibilities today for your morning drive. as for pg&e, there are outages on the peninsula. almost 5,000 people are without power, specifically 4600 people and pg&e crews are busy, hard at work right now trying to get power restored. as for your afternoon drive, let's talk a little bit of football. how does this play into the rain story? well, stanford and ucla tonight at stanford stadium, kickoff is at 5:00 p.m. so right when the morning -- or rather the evening commute gets going. stanford officials say that the

pac-12 championship game is going to tie up traffic along the peninsula like never before really between 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. tonight. 40,000-plus people are expected to descend on stanford stadium so keep that in mind if you have plans to travel up and down the peninsula. stanford officials say you're better off to take public transportation. in fact caltrain is offering special service to the stanford stadium. that is the latest from here, marla tellez, "today in the bay." you won't be the only one watching the roads on your morning drive today, caltrain is keeping an eye on it. they have a war room of sorts where it is monitored round the clock. it calls it the traffic management center. it has 35 screens that connecting staff to views of 300 cameras set up around the bay area. the goal, to help speed up response times for accidents and emergencies. interactive maps also show realtime traffic data collected

from thousands of sensors. >> so if we see a lot of red dots, then we know we can zoom in, find the nearest traffic camera and possibly find out what the problem is right away. >> hottest trouble spots, where you'd expect. 280 and women t101 and lucky dr the gilman stretch in berkeley. 6:15 right now. of course the wet weather among today's top stories. we'll show you here thousands of people in the dark this morning with power outages scattered around the bay bridge. kind of a strange look there, the bay bridge without that power. power out along the richmond-san rafael bridge as well. in the south bay, nbc bay area has confirmed police are now involved in a homicide investigation at a large home in monte sereno near los gatos. bob redell is there working to gather more information. we understand it's a home invasion. we'll continue to update this

story throughout the morning. former police lab technician debra madden in court today to ask the drug charges against her be dismissed. madden accused of taking cocaine from the san francisco police crime lab back in 2009. her first trial ended in a hung jury. optimism over avoiding that looming fiscal cliff now shrinking on capitol hill as lawmakers admit they have made no real progress in two weeks. president obama now taking his pitch out on the road to pitch those tax increases and spending cuts to the americans. later this afternoon, he'll walk the assembly line of this manufacturing company just outside of philadelphia. its main product, k'nex toys. the president says the middle class just won't be able to support companies like this without some deal in place to avoid the cliff. >> demand is going to go away because all of a sudden you'll have two, three, $4,000 a year coming out of people's paychecks. >> just yesterday house speaker john boehner called the massive

tax increases and spending cuts scheduled for january 1st a real possibility at this point, but we're hearing a lot of washington insiders still believe a deal is doable. 6:17. now a story you'll only see on nbc bay area. the san jose skyline could look a lot different if the city can get clearance from the faa. city leaders say they want taller buildings up to 40 stories high but since downtown is in the flight path of the san jose international airport, there are height restrictions, and they say that is costing the city money. >> obviously if we had the ability to build higher, we'd want to do that because more people brings more vibrancy to the downtown. it means more feet on the sidewalk, more people using restaurants and retail and obviously that atracks more business. in the meantime the faa is looking at other airports' emergency takeoff patterns. depending on those results, they might allow taller buildings downtown. critics say having taller buildings will ruin the view for the buildings already downtown.

can't please everybody. right now those downtown buildings get a lot of rain this morning. we continue to watch that weather. already two of the storms are down, but guess what, a third one already happening right now. let's check the forecast with meteorologist christina loren. >> hey, good morning to you guys. yeah, we are just getting pounded right in the heart of your morning commute is when we're expecting the worst of it to come through. right now san jose, you've had heavy to moderate rainfall over the past two hours, so watch out for flooding, especially as you travel through some of the construction zones where you don't have great drainage. that's going to be a factor. you don't want to hydroplane and lose control of your vehicle so travel cautiously. we want to zoom in on some of the more impressive thunderstorm cells. heavy downpours in this neck of the woods. antioch has been getting some pretty strong storms all morning long. the heaviest concentration of rain right now is located right over 101 all the way from san jose to morgan hill, so travel very cautiously in that neck of the woods. mike is watching your roads and

will have an update in just a few moments. i want to show you your futurecast. stop the clock at 8:00 a.m., heavy downpours still coming down. starting to lighten up from santa rosa south to novato. we stop the clock at 10:00 a.m., moderate rain lingering down through the south bay but starting to get some lighter pockets. santa rosa south to san francisco. then we stop the clock at 2:00 p.m. and the breaks of sunshine in come through. we're still fair game for isolated thunderstorms throughout the afternoon. we'll watch that for you with an unstable air mass overhead. we'll get a little bit of a break for saturday. just the lighter showers. it will be cool and cloudy and we'll see a little sunshine, but overall saturday is a better day for outdoor plans than sunday. as of 4:00 a.m. sunday starting to get more heavy rainfall up in the north bay. that front will move to the south. finally arriving here in san jose by 9:00 a.m. and then we'll get a little bit of a break but more rain in that forecast. today's highs will be comfortable. 62 in livermore. this isn't packing a lot of cool

air. you will see rain-cooled pockets of air but the system is coming up from the south so it's not a really cold storm. however, that's the reason why it's holding on to copious amounts of moisture and why we are going to get slammed not just today but sunday as well. 62 degrees on sunday and that's when the flood concern is heightened because we will have all these days of rain already under our belts and more heavy rain, potentially 1 to 2 inches more, on sunday. monday into tuesday getting a little bit of a lull. the second half of tuesday we have showers on way, especially to the north bay. that pattern will continue the first part of wednesday so finally drying out thursday into next weekend. if you want to make plans, you're better doing so next weekend than the next two days. it's going to be rough around here. christina talking about the brunt of the south bay commute getting hit with that rain sustaining until at least 9:00. we're looking at the blue on my map. that means there's heavy ponding and puddling.

87 and 280 likely. but look at that, the traffic blow itself not too bad. 85 starting to calm down as well as 101 and 280. now, it's a lighter friday commute as far as the volume of cars on the roadway and that's what's saving us in many spots. the earlier accident, 87 at taylor has cleared up except for a little paperwork. now we just have slowing coming into downtown. and 101 north up towards 880 and continuing to the airport. those are the sloppy areas and also the areas with the most cars. we're watching for that effect. fremont coming down into the area, 880 moves smoothly with a live look but you see the misty conditions. the water kicking up as the cars drive along these rainy roads. even though it might be a little lighter where you are, you still have to get the wind shield wipers going because of that kicking up the secondary effect of the rain. looking a little farther out for 680 and 880 through the area. again, the blue indicating ponding and puddling. we have a new accident blocking

one, two lanes around the bend out of sunol that will catch you by surprise. the earlier accident at 580 cleared about 25 minutes ago and now we have a big improvement coming out of livermore and heading over toward that dublin interchange. we'll give you a look at the bay bridge toll plaza because we talked about the power being out as far as the lights across the span. we do have lights here at the toll plaza and they're taking tolls. yeah, can't stop that. the metering lights are on as well. notice this, approaching the toll plaza we have between the hov lane and fastrak lanes, these lanes off to your left, they're empty and we see folks moving over. so we've got calls into chp trying to see what exactly is going on. it looks like they may have some of those toll gates out. that might be why there's more compression and slowing off of 880. we track this as well as the north bay where there are a lot of reports of flooding, mud slides and trees down, mostly local roads, but here's that volume. commute coming down through the sloppy conditions right here at san rafael and the curves at

terra linda. watch lucky drive as well as sir francis drake. >> it's a tough morning out there, thank you very much. >> mike and christina need to get their nikes on they're running around so much. the time is 6:23. if you're planning on flying out very soon, you have to consider are the rain clouds going to affect the tarmac getaway?

we are watching the weather, giving you a live look outside. another major storm lingering over the entire bay area.

live look from the north bay this morning up at 101, causing major delays as well at sfo. right now airport officials say to expect arriving flights having delays up to four hours. some departing flights may be affected as well. along with those flight delays, wild weather has also left more than 16,000 people in the dark this morning, 7,000 without power in the north bay alone. nearly 5,000 customers without power along the peninsula. in the south bay, nearly 3,000 people now in the dark. >> we're keeping our fingers crossed we keep our lights on right here. wouldn't be much of a broadcast in the dark. 6:27. still ahead, a neighborhood on lockdown. an all-out manhunt for a suspect on the run after a violent crime in an upscale south bay neighborhood. [ laughter ] [ girl ] wow, you guys have it easy.

i wish i had u-verse when i was your age. in my day, we didn't have these fancy wireless receivers. blah blah blah. if i had a sleepover, i couldn't just move the tv into the playroom. no. we had to watch movies in the den because that's where the tv outlet was. and if dad was snoring on the couch, we muscled through it. is she for real? your generation has it made. [ male announcer ] the wireless receiver only from at&t u-verse. get a free wireless receiver with a qualifying u-verse plan. rethink possible. suspect on the run. a violent crime shatters the

silence in an upscale south bay neighborhood. a live look at soggy san francisco. wet streets, windy weather, a slick commute. look at that, it looks like the bay bridge lights are partially back on this morning. actually they were out. lots of power outages to report across the bay area, but we've got you covered during this huge storm hitting the bay area. >> about 16,000 people according to pg&e in the dark. those numbers could be rising. christina says the storm is getting worse. right now we'll take you live to wall street as we ring in the bell. wait for it. >> there it is. >> oh yes, on this very wet and soggy friday, november 30th. this is "today in the bay." h2o friday. >> squeindeed. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> and i'm jon kelly. an update to the breaking news in the south bay where a homicide investigation is under

way in monte sereno in los gatos. a woman called 911 just after 1:30 saying someone broke into her home and ransacked it. when officers arrived, they found her husband dead. as for the woman, she said she was taken to the hospital with 9 life threatening injuries. the suspect remains on the loose. bob redell is at that scene, he's been there all morning long gathering information. we'll have him with an update in about 20 minutes. of course this morning we're also watching the weather as we give you a live look outside at the sunol grade this morning. it looks i can traffic is moving pretty smoothly there. it is so wet out there, though, lots of cars reportedly hydroplaning. round three of stormy weather bearing down all over the bear area this morning. lights actually went out on the richmond-san rafael bridge as drivers were making their way across it. this is about 4:30 this morning, just in the dark. drivers of course urged to take it slow and be very careful. now a live look at the bay

bridge this morning. the upper deck now lit up again after an overnight outage that we saw there just moments ago. also keeping your eye on the golden gate bridge this morning. slick roadways, look at that. traffic actually going a little slower this morning which is really good advice. let's check in with the weather channel's chris warren stand buying at san francisco's marina green this morning. >> we've been out here since about 2:00 in the morning and it has been raining and it has been windy throughout the entire time. the intensity may vary every once in a while, but as we look at the golden gate bridge, at times the visibility really goes down. for the most part we've been able to see the lights, but as far as the towers go, we see the clouds lower a bit, so the weather has been changing. the rain has been consistent. again, it's the intensity of the rain that has been changing. driving in, the rain at times with the wind was going sideways. so you add speed to that, we're just doing city driving and that's really not too bad if you're going too fast but if you are going pretty fast and the rain and the wind, visibility

can go down in a hurry so you do ne to be careful out on those roadways. that's the latest from here. i'm chris warren, "today in the bay." >> i'd say stay dry, chris, but there's none of that this morning. >> not a chance out there. we have officially called this one h2o friday and i guess that means christina loren is aquawoman. >> aquawoman indeed. you know the weather channel doesn't show up in anything. you know this storm is serious, they are here all the way from atlanta. what i can tell you is for good reason this morning. the storm coinciding right with the timing of your morning rush. it's also getaway friday and we have treacherous conditions. if you're heading to southern california through the central valley or northern california, you'll have to get through really rough weather. we have isolated thunderstorms from stockton to brentwood. livermore also getting isolated thunderstorms. heavy downpours, gusty winds associated with those. in addition to the very strong sustained winds already taking place across the greater bay area, those winds are going to increase as we head through now to 8:00.

that's when we're expecting numerous reports of downed trees to come in because the ground is saturated, the winds are going to increase and battered by that strong wind. we could see some very significant damage. i just want to point this tout to you, this is not our only day of rainfall. i'm going to time out the next system in your bufull forecast t you have to keep in mind we already have 1 to 2 inches already on the ground in parts of the bay area and we'll accumulate another 2 to 3 inches today and sunday's storm, the big one, is going to bring in 2 to 3 additional inches, so flooding is going to stay in the forecast all the way through the weekend. we'll time that out for you coming up. 6:34, let's take a look at your drive first with mike. we'll look at the bay bridge toll plaza, obviously wet. the rain is an issue but look at the weird pattern. only the fastrak lanes are blocked. the cash lanes are finally starting to show some backup. nothing unusual as far as the toll plaza but we did see lights just turn on across the span so there may have been a reset at the toll plaza but now it looks

like all lane are starting to back up. looking at the emeryville shot as well, with all these folks heading down through berkeley and toward the toll plaza, it's going to get much more crowded the next few minutes. because of windy, wet conditions, lower your speeds as well, folks. we'll get you a look at the maps. there were lanes blocked almost four hours at the interchange and now all these folks heading south through sunol. the blue on our map shows you where it is wet. a lot of ponding and puddling heading south into fremont. the accident clearing at the shoulder over toward mission and 880, your commute direction also heading toward mission getting slower coming out of union city and heading into the south bay itself. the south bay does show a good deal of slowing for the northbound routes. for 101 and 87 as well. as we zoom into this spot, we also have flooding just before

87 crosses over with 880 there so be careful. many spots likely to have standing water, especially those off-ramps. 85 at the almaden expressway, we're being hold school buses are being told to avoid that interchange because there's enough water to be an issue for the local school buses that travel through the area. the blue meaning ponding and puddling but all over the bay area just be careful, guys. we'll end with palo alto, no spinouts reported but a number of small accidents throughout the morning. a smooth drive so far heading into the city but just tough to see in many spots. back to you. it's 6:36. still ahead, bringing down the gavel on gay marriage. the closed-door session at the supreme court that could open up new rights to everyone just ahead. we've all heard the little dity rain, rain, go away come again some other way. christina loren says not a chance. a live look at the san mateo

bridge. we also double your pleasure with a live look at the s curve in san rafael. you can tell it's going to be a rough and wet one. if you're heading out the door, please use caution. we're back in a matter of minutes.

welcome back. it's 6:39. taking a live look at heavy rainfall coming down over san rafael. that goes for the greater bay area at this point. we really tip our hats to those who have to work outside in the

rain today, postal workers, landscapers and anyone who drives for a living. it's going to be rather rough. let's take you to the radar and show you how many pockets of rain we have across the bay area. we'll tell you when we're finally getting a break and what more returns in your full forecast. back to you for now. >> thank you very much. 6:39. the u.s. supreme court is expected to take up the issue of same-sex marriage today. nine justices are scheduled to meet behind closed doors to decide if they will take a series of cases. one of them is the federal defense of marriage act. the other, proposition 8, the ban on same-sex marriage in california. although the supreme court is expected to hear the cases, the justices could delay discussing them until march. given that gay marriage is now legal in nine states and the district of columbia, experts expect the justices to make an announcement today. as we deal about storms all across the bay area, some very lucky people across the country dealing with some raining money. it's raining money for them.

we could soon find out who bought one of those winning powerball tickets from wednesday's record jackpot. missouri lottery officials say a winning ticket has been turned in and verified. they'll be holding a news conference for that lucky group or individual. the other winning ticket was sold in arizona. so far that ticket and the person has not claimed it yet. wednesday's powerball jackpot, if you were curious, went off at a record $588 million. >> just crazy. >> not a bad gig if you can get. >> it crazy money there. 6:40. coming up, will the stormy weather in the bay area bring a blast of snow to the sierra? we'll tell you whether or not to pack those skis, snowboards and chains just ahead. this is just so odd to see early in the morning hours here. part of the bay bridge lights are on, the other part are off. pg&e reporting lots of power outages. at one pointing 16,000 people were out it. we're back in a moment.

and we are watching the weather this morning as we take a live look at san rafael, one of many north bay cities getting soaked as our third storm of the week rolls in. it is causing plenty of slipping and sliding on bay area roadways. taking a live look at the golden gate bridge and the bay bridge this morning. now, speaking of the bay bridge, earlier this morning look at that, it was lights out on the upper deck. upper deck wasn't even visible until around -- at 5:30 this morning because of the power outage. lights also went out on the richmond-san rafael bridge as drivers tried to make their way across it. you can barely make it out in the dark. that was about 4:30 this morning. plenty of rain has fallen overnight already throughout the bay area.

this is actually new video shot early this morning at the marina green right on the bay in san francisco. this morning we have a team in place covering the entire bay area. we'll check in with mike inouye and meteorologist christina loren in just a moment. but we begin with christie smith. she's live on the phone with us from the richmond-san rafael bridge. how's it looking there? maybe she's not there. christie, are you there? maybe we lost that signal so we'll move on and try to check back with her in a little bit. yes, of course it does feel cold but meteorologists say the storm system is bringing warm air to the sierra. nevertheless, heavenly says it's expecting several feet of new snow through sunday in the higher elevations. we have video here of machines there just backing down that new snowfall to make for a great base for skiers like laura garcia-cannon and snowboarders, not like me. i sled. at other resorts around the

sierra we're seeing snow as well. northstar reporting 20 inches at the summit, kirkwood 15 inches of fresh powder, squaw valley about a foot and sierra at tahoe about 10 inches of snowfall just over the past couple of days. we'll take the snow in the sierra but what about here in the bay area? continuing our weather coverage with marla tellez. she's live at university avenue near highway 101 in palo alto. earlier it was really coming down. you don't have your umbrella right now. how are you doing? >> reporter: yeah, i just dropped the umbrella. it's right here in case the rain picks up again. yeah, it's raining but it's not terrible right now. it's been on and off the last couple hours out here but pretty steady for the last hour or so. i just hung up the phone with chp officer and he was blunt when i asked him about the morning commute. he said it is a mess. the phones for chp are lighting up this morning. he says they are getting calls for flooding on the roadways. many traffic accidents. but mainly minor, nothing major

as far as the peninsula is concerned. he says the morning commute looks pretty good considering the wet roads. here's a live look again at university avenue in palo alto. the taillights are heading south. that means the headlights are heading north. yeah, no stop and go just yet. so far i guess you could say it's friday light and we just got an update from pg&e. at one point there were almost 5,000 people on the peninsula without power. they tell us now that number has dropped to just 1300 people without power. so crews are getting the job done, getting power restored to folks on the peninsula. as you head out the door, though, keep in mind ponding is happening on the roadways, flooding and hydroplaning. if you do start to hydroplane, you probably already know this but i'm going to reiterate it. do not slam on your brakes that, will only make the situation worse. just let up on the gas and that should help you out there. now, as far as your afternoon drive and your evening commute is concerned, not only the rain, but you have some football to

contend with today. it is the pac-12 title game. stanford versus ucla. that's at 5:00 tonight. so you can bet traffic is really going to be gridlocked through the area because stanford officials estimate 40,000 plus people will be going to that defa game. you are encouraged to take public transportation. i can tell you that caltrain is also offering special service to tonight's game at stanford stadium. live in palo alto, marla tellez, "today in the bay." >> we might have to call this one the mud bowl out there. of course we've all heard the expression "don't rain on my parade." that's going to be pretty difficult to avoid. the city of los gatos gearing up for two major holiday events despite the downpour. tonight's tree lighting ceremony and tomorrow's children's parade. organizers of the parade say it's only been ranined out once over 56 years. some of the participants a little uneasy understandably,

and so far five of them have canceled. in oakland the city's holiday parade can draw a crowd of more than 100,000 people. tomorrow's parade will also be held come rain or shine or flood and all that stuff. >> no matter what it is. rain, shine, flooding, our reporters are always out there in it trying to give you the latest information. including our own christie smith. she's live on the phone with us. you're up in the north bay? >> reporter: good morning to you. you know, we've been at it since about 3:15 this morning in the east bay and the north bay and i have to tell you, it hasn't stopped raining at all. just passed over the golden gate bridge this morning from marin. rain coming down hard. it's windy out there, especially trying to drive over the deck. richmond-san rafael bridge was totally dark this morning, a blackout starting about 3:00 this morning. i spoke with the chp and they're telling me that some lights are back on now. of course we're now hearing the bay bridge being affected. rain started to get lighter, though, when we crossed into san

francisco. it was absolutely pouring in marin this morning where shop owners in san anselmo have their sandbags stacked up a couple feet high in the doorway, watching the creek behind those stores. they have had problems there in the past. it's swollen and moving but well below flood stage.rounded a corn san francisco and saw a big tree branch down near bay shore and off of 101. crews working on that this morning. street flooding also. what you notice driving around this morning, particularly in marin and the east bay is suddenly the neighborhood is completely dark, the power is out. a couple of times we drove into huge puddles and didn't even see them at all so as you head out this morning, you want to be very careful. i'll sending it back to you guys. >> you be careful yourself. christina loren says outside the raindrops will not stop. >> my heart goes out to those of

you who have to get out there and work in these conditions. what i can tell you is saturday does not look that bad. we'll see entintermittent light showers. taking a live look at a half-lit bay bridge. we've been reporting that power was knocked out at one point to the whole top deck of the bay bridge. at this point they're starting to get the power back on. pg&e working hard through these conclusio conditions. let's go ahead and show you the radar picture as this speaks volumes. i don't even have to talk. find your city, it's likely raining heavily according to our radar calculations. we'll continue to see this heavy moisture pushing to the south bay. that's where most of the heavy pockets are con fined right now. watch out for heavy pockets. in the east bay we've been watching that for you. this is where the thunderstorm cells have been developing throughout the morning hours. we continue to see these pop-up thunderstorms. those are really dangerous because you could be driving through the rain and it's nice

and light and all of a sudden the heavy downpours happen within those thunderstorm cells in addition to very gusty winds. take it easy out there, travel cautiously and stay alert this morning. winds are rather strong right now. we're expecting those to pick up the next few hours as the storm system, the brunt of it really moves onshore. it's moving on right now. the wind gusts haven't been that high just yet. these will ramp up between 8:00 and 10:00 today. we'll keep this wet and windy pattern in the forecast until about 11:00 today. the limited sunshine will reveal the aftermath. 1:00 p.m. friday starting to get a little bit of a break. you can see light rain mostly concentrated over the western-facing slopes surrounding san jose. santa rosa getting a little light precipitation. you'll have a little dryout period between later on today, later this afternoon all the way through saturday when we get on and off light showers. then as we head through the second half of the night on saturday into sunday morning, we

start to get active. 5:00 a.m. we stop that clock and look at that. heavy rain returns to the north bay. really not much drying out time between systems so the potential for flooding will be heightened as we head through sunday. what i can tell you is these systems have been very similar in the sense that they come in the morning and clear out in the afternoon hours. this one will arrive in the morning bringing heavy rainfall all the way north to livermore. then by 3:00 p.m. the sun does return to the north bay and will slowly come out over san jose. monday nice dry day. tuesday more shower activity. not expecting the heavy rain, just the tail ending of a system to sneak through the bay area. thursday looks good and then we'll dry out thursday through the upcoming weekend. but yeah, just make sure you're ready for a rough drive. you expect it to be friday light, that's not the case, huh, mike? >> let's qualify that. it is friday light as far as the volume of traffic but not friday

easy. the conditions don't line up that way. here's 101 at 680 and this is a little heavier than we typically see right here at the intersection. we're talking about scattered incidents throughout. at one point 15 minutes ago chp had almost 80 incidents on their report but as marla said, they're mostly smaller accidents or just reports of large puddles and water. so keep that in mind. here's where we just showed you the backup 101 north but it clears by the time you get to 880. 280 jams it right around the 880 interchange. your northbound routes starting to slow from 85 up to cupertino as well. the blue highlighted means there's heavy ponding and puddling reported through these areas. keep that in mind. here it's slow south 680 through sunol and heading down toward fremont. here the accident cleared over at the dublin interchange but now a word of caution. there may be more activity as far as activity at the interchange itself. be careful. there might be one lane closed traveling westbound in your commute direction.

jammed coming out of the altamont pass. if you're heading toward the sierra, bring the chains, but they're required for 50. they're advised for interstate 80. keep that in mind as well. looking out toward the san mateo bridge. as we move over here, 580 moves smoothly to the castro valley y. south 680 starts to slow into union city. typical pattern but a little lighter than the rest of your week. 92 over the water, we'll give you a look and the conditions demand you do slow speeds just a bit. soupy conditions, you can't make out the high rise but it's there. flooding reported for san mateo and those off-ramps around whipple and farther south into redwood city and north toward san bruin oerks maynbruno. the bay bridge toll plaza unusual backup. it looks like the fastrak lanes are backed up. the cash lanes are open. if you do carry cash about w you, good. go into the cash lanes and pay a little extra more so you don't have to wait in the backup. last friday was black friday. we'll get a look at the span, the upper deck and notice today

that the lights on the bay bridge, they're half off. back to you guys. >> oh, you're a creative man, mike inouye. as mike has been showing us this morning, expect slick conditions out there, whipping winds out on the roads as we take a live look, that is san jose. yeah, a lot of people already taking us up on our offer sending us photos of stormy conditions where they live. a nice rainbow, old glory. we'd like you to do the same. share your photos n twitter orror instagram. we love your pics but love your safety more. no tweeting or texting from the road. and an update to breaking news in the south bay. a home invasion robbery that turned deadly. this morning a homicide investigation is under way in the upscale neighborhood of

monte sereno near los gatos. bob redell just spoke with police and he joins us now with the very latest. bob? >> reporter: good morning to you, laura. we just spoke with a sergeant here at the los gatos monte sereno police department and he tells us his officers are looking for at least one suspect, possibly more in connection with this home invasion robbery and homicide that took place early this morning at a very large home in the hills of monte sereno. police have blocked access to the crime scene. you see that officer in the car right there, which is up withey road. this house is on withey road. we assume one reason access is blocked because it's hard to get up there so investigators can get to and from with their vehicles. this happened a little after 1:30 this morning. a woman called 911 to report someone had broken in and ransacked her home on withey road. when police arrived, they found her husband dead, apparently killed by the burglar. >> yeah, it's very, very

unusual. mon monte sereno is an extremely safe community, obviously very affluent and things like this just don't happen in monte sereno so this is a bad thing. >> reporter: the wife has been taken to the hospital with nonlife threatening injuries. we know police are or will be talking with her to try to get a description out of the suspect or suspects who broke into her home and killed her husband. you heard the sergeant there talking about how unusual it is for there to be a homicide in monte sereno. this is the first one in years. he couldn't recall when there was a homicide. not to say there wasn't but it's been a very long time. reporting live here in los gatos, bob redell, "today in the bay." right now we want to bring you a follow-up to breaking news yesterday morning. police say an intruder who broke into a woman's apartment tried to rape her and this morning the search for that suspect continues. a woman woke up to a man standing right over her bed in her apartment on hawthorne

avenue early yesterday morning. police say the man pinned her wrists down. investigators say the woman then screamed. she managed to fight the man off. he then ran out of the front door. more troubling here, the attempted sexual assault happened in the very same area where three women were groped over the past few months. so far no arrests have been made in any of those cases, and investigators now looking into whether there is a connection to these cases. we want to keep our eye on the stormy weather this morning. time to check that forecast with meteorologist christina loren. >> yeah, you know a lot of people wanting to get out of town today, concerned about flight delays. we're already expecting those out of sfo so we'll update you throughout the morning. at this pointing t the heaviest moisture is in the south bay. all of your roadways are slick. you'll find puddles and puondin. we'll guide you through it throughout the "today" show. 880, the nimitz freeway,

here past the truck scales, really soupy conditions southbound getting really crowded toward mission and again into the south bay where christina just talked about rain passing through, getting heavy there. palo alto, marla has been reporting all morning, we see lower driving northbound past university avenue and remember that stanford/ucla game tonight, go ucla. >> slipped that one in, mike. nice work. >> you've got to watch out for the cardinal out there too, just to be fair. >> he's a bruin. >> he is. thanks for joining us this morning. we'll be back at 7:25 with a local news cut-in. if you have to go outside, please be careful. >> hate to sound like a broken record but be safe out there. have a great weekend. good morning. the big winners overnight. nbc news learned the identity of the first winning ticket holders, a couple from dearborn, missouri. and is this video of the other winner at the very moment he